May 23, 2005
Vegas: Getting a Reality Check?

By STEVE FRIESS

He's already played versions of himself in Martin Scorsese's "Casino" and on NBC's "Las Vegas," but now Sin City Mayor Oscar Goodman wants a star vehicle of his own. According to Goodman, he's close to inking a deal with an Emmy-winning producer that would make him the first sitting politician to be the focus of a reality series.

The outspoken mayor, whose off-camera antics include acting as a Playboy guest photographer and telling an elementary-school class that he'd want gin if stranded on a deserted island, promises to live it up for the camera-but wants editorial control. Critics worry that a show about city business (like homelessness and approvals for high-rise condos) sounds like a commercial-and a boring one at that.

"The spontaneity and things that people blurt out when they're under pressure or in unusual circumstances is what makes reality TV," says south Florida Sun-Sentinel TV critic Tom Jicha. "Take that out, you've got nothing." Maybe that's where the gin comes into play.

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